LOCAL GOLF: Reed defeats Curnutte for Midland Women's City title

Published 5:08 pm, Thursday, July 17, 2014

Rebecca Reed follows her shot Thursday at Greentree Country Club in the finals of the Women' City Golf Tournament. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Rebecca Reed follows her shot Thursday at Greentree Country Club in the finals of the Women' City Golf Tournament. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Photo: Tim Fischer

LOCAL GOLF: Reed defeats Curnutte for Midland Women's City title

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

In front of a quickly expanding crowd of 30 or 40 spectators, Rebecca Reed calmly deposited her short par putt on No. 16 of Green Tree Country Club.

It looked like any other par putt, but moments after it dropped a steady round of applause echoed from around the green. Reed hugged her opponent, Christian Curnutte, and walked back to her cart the winner of the Midland Women’s City Championship.

Reed strolled like she’s had moments like these many times before, which is all the more notable considering she’s only 13 and the second-youngest champion in the tournament’s 51-year history.

“To know that I actually won something like this means a lot to me,” Reed said. “All of these ladies are fantastic golfers, and to know I was able, after three days, to come out on top makes me feel fantastic about my game.”

The player she knocked off, Curnutte, is actually the youngest champion of the Midland Women’s City Championship — she won at age 12 in 2010. It was young knocked off by even younger Thursday morning, but the games displayed by each player did not reveal their age.

Neither Reed nor Curnutte played their best the in final round of the match play tournament, but they each responded to a challenging environment. Fifteen minutes before their tee time, a storm rolled into Midland, causing a two-hour delay, which is a difficult situation after both players had finished their warm-ups.

“I couldn’t sit still,” Reed said. “I was just itching to get out there and play”

Once she did, Reed rolled.

She won the first hole with a par, and split the next with Curnutte. After that, Reed held steady as Curnutte wilted slightly over the next four holes.

A driver pull-hooked left into the water caused Curnutte to drop the third hole. She battled back to tie on No. 4, but then lost No. 5 and 6 in quick succession after putts wouldn’t drop. This gave Reed a lead that provided significant early comfort.

“Once I got up, then went two, three and four up, it really made a difference,” Reed said.

Curnutte started to play better once she reached the back nine. Her drives began to find the fairway, and a win on No. 11 seemed to spark her confidence. But riding to the tee box of No. 12 is when Reed gave herself a mental challenge.

“I was telling myself, ‘Let’s see how you respond to a little bit of pressure. Let’s see if you can push her a little bit,’” she said.

Her 6-hybrid from 147 yards out landed to within 10 feet of the pin, inside of Curnutte’s stellar effort from moments earlier.

Both Reed and Curnutte missed their birdie opportunities, but Reed said that shot made a big difference in the match. Curnutte continued a charge on the back nine, but she couldn’t get any of her birdie opportunities to fall.

Reed didn’t play her best, but she said she’ll take a lot away from pushing through and still finding success without premium results.

“I didn’t hit as many good shots as I wanted to,” Reed said. I wasn’t making many putts, and lipped out a lot of putts. But golf is a game of mistakes, and whoever wins makes the least mistakes.”

For now, Reed is just attempting to process that she is the best women’s golfer in Midland this year.

While she didn’t know what to say about that portion of her victory, she’s happy to have won. The confidence gained is something she’ll take forward with her as she moves into higher level junior events.

Not that she needs too much confidence. After all, she’s a 13-year-old with a maturity level going on 30.